SYDNEY-The Medical Journal of Australia has opened peer review to all comers on the Internet.
With the permission of authors, most original research articles and formal review articles accepted by MJA are being posted on the Internet, along with referees’ original comments, for a month’s peer review in cyberspace.
In the experiment, which began in March, online reviewers’ e-mailed comments are passed on to the author, and some are posted on the eMJA site. In addition to trying to improve papers, the MJA wants to see whether eMJA affects referees’ performances.
Craig Bingham, the trial coordinator, says 90% of authors have participated, with only positive feedback so far. Most original reviewers have also cooperated. The editor of MJA, Dr. Martin Van Der Weyden, decides when it’s appropriate for reviewers’ comments to be posted on eMJA. One set of online reviewers’ comments has been posted, along with a response from the author, who agreed to some changes as a result of these comments.
Some articles have drawn no reaction at all, others just a few, says Bingham. But though the eMJA site is open to any Internet user, it has attracted no cranks. “Obviously, serious medical articles, seriously presented, do not attract the idle Websurfer,” he says.
The journal feels its experiment has raised its international profile and increased readership. It hopes eMJA will improve the quality of peer review and condense the process. But Bingham says it’s not clear whether the improvements via online review will be enough to justify the big effort. -Howard Wolinsky
http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/MJA/
SYDNEY-The Medical Journal of Australia has opened peer review to all comers on the Internet.
